And it is
our free institutions, as well as our Constitution, that in America
make kings impossible, and have, for a hundred years, wrought for a
larger liberty and a more popular government.
And it is the spirit of our institutions, as well as our Constitution,
that will prevent the abuse of power by American authority in Porto
Rico, Hawaii, the Philippines, or any other spot blessed by the
protection of our flag. It is our free institutions, working now by
one method and now by another, after the fashion of our practical
race, that are establishing order, equal laws, free speech,
unpurchasable justice, and "life, liberty, and the pursuit of
happiness" throughout our ocean possessions.
It is our institutional law, therefore, of which men should inquire
who would know the meaning and the life of our constitutional law. We
have heard from lawyer and orator of "the Constitution," "the letter
of the Constitution," etc.; we have listened for "our institutions,"
and in vain. And yet, is it not written that "the letter killeth, but
the spirit giveth life"?
Is it not written that "man shall not live by bread alone, but by
every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God"? I respect not
the expounders of constitutional law who have not learned the history
of our institutions, of which the Constitution is the richest fruit,
until that history is a part of their being.
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